I would like to communicate to the world about my chain reaction project that as difficult and as much of a struggle it was to line up all the transitions properly anything is possible if you set your mind to it. as well as staying positive when you feel like there is no solution to your problem. I would also say that the most quite team mates carry the greatest ideas. Problem: The problem is to create a “Chain Reaction” which is basically a structure made out of various items you can find around your house. The chain reaction had to have ten transitions with the coin flip at the end meaning in between each action is a transition and we had to incorporate a coin flip at the end. For example, if a car went down a ramp and then hit domino's, the action of the car rolling down the ramp and then influencing something else is one transition. An example of what most people got confused about is in between each domino is not a transition, so anything related to the domino effect, lets say a water bottle getting knocked over and hitting a book which knocks over, does not count as a transition. Throughout the difficulty with this project my team mates have definitely persevered, even when we sometimes felt like giving up we stayed positive that we could fix the issues with some other methods such as design changes or just simple design tweaks. We also carried a lot of compassion when we cooperated as a group, because sometimes you have shy or quiet voices within your group and with compassion and an open mind those quiet voices, most of the time carry the best ideas, because they are more observant. Lastly after all of my teammates help with refining our project we were able to successfully complete this project. Research: Research:Research kind of coincides with design, because these are both steps that are recommended to begin with before the building begins. In our team's reaction I came up with the idea of doing a Popsicle stick bomb. Basically, it's a type of weave created using Popsicle sticks and once you release the pressure of the end of it, it explodes (Basically, all the Popsicle sticks go flying everywhere). Before I even attempted to start this I went on YouTube and spent a good 45 min to an hour learning how to successfully achieve this complex pattern. Once I had that not so complex pattern down, I brainstormed some ideas on how I could incorporate this unique idea into the design. After fighting with myself on what to do about this, lo and behold the quietest member of our team comes up with a great solution. I personally would recommend doing some research beforehand so that you could be more prepared and well educated on the project. Researching before hand is a great benefit and a secret tool to incorporate something out of the box that maybe most people couldn't have thought of on their own. Research as well sparks inspiration and curiosity which from past experience can easily be passed on to teammates. Over all, do your research, it's worth it, it's very beneficial. Design: Design: After our practice round incorporating only five transitions each teammate made their own design based on those initial five transitions. The design had to be precise and accurate. The transitions had to be easily identified throughout the design and the transitions should have been numbered with text identifying what was exactly used in the reaction. Don't forget the small but still important details, the paper must be on blank or graph paper with no tears, rips or eraser marks. Once I completed all my drafts I started working on my final draft and then turned it into my teacher. Over all I think it was a great idea to incorporate the design process within this project, because In real life situations normally you wouldn't be allowed to build anything unless you had a design or in other words a blueprint that was approved before hand. This design process has taught me that great ideas take time to develop, they don't all of a sudden come to mind once you pick up a power tool. Taking time to plan out what you're going to build first saves a lot of trouble and hassle in the long run. Over all the design process was definitely appreciated. My team's prototypes were both of the chain reactions we completed, the five and ten transition chain reactions. Prototype: Basically we created our first prototype with the intention of it being a small project based around physics. After the completion of our first prototype we were partnered up with a group who as well finished their first prototype. We were basically assigned to mishmash our two chain reactions together to form ten transitions plus the coin flip at the end. With this curve ball we decided to make the best of it and fix all of the issues we had with our first prototype. For our first prototype we were having issues with our Popsicle stick bomb, because the pressure that was going to be released once the car rolled down the ramp was a piece of tape. Of course that didn't work so for our second prototype we resolved the problem by having the pressure be two large magnets attached to a lever. Basically at the end of the chain reaction a book falls over hitting the lever causing the other side to lift, lifting the magnets off the Popsicle stick bomb which explodes and flips the coin. Sounds simple right? Well it wasn't easy, but it was manageable. Once we fixed our other issues which were minor adjustments, which by the way make a huge difference, we got it video taped. I would definitely recommend doing as many prototypes as necessary until you are satisfied with your latest prototype. This will extremely pay off in the long run because with all of your issues corrected or resolved through your prototypes you will not have to worry about your final product having defaults. With that being said, this extra step takes a lot of persistence, determination and most important team work. Although this could take more time to develop your product, you will be a hundred times more satisfied with your result. Growth: I would definitely say I have grown a new perspective on team work after this project. Yes, I did learn about physics based on how things react with each other, but over all I think this project was all based around how we as individuals work together under pressure in group projects. If this is the case, then it was successful. I have grown relationships through this project by spending most of our class time working on this project with them. I have also grown a new perspective on shy individuals, because before I would think quiet or shy teammates were either lazy or didn't feel as if they could contribute to the team. Now I've noticed it could be that, but most of the time it's because they are observing and observation is something talkers lack. Last but not least I have grown in positivity. Before I would always tell myself to be positive, but now I carry positivity through my projects and try to pass it on to my teammates, because there's a difference between wanting to be positive and actually staying positive. Night Light Design Project For this project I was given the opportunity to create a solar powered night light for a first grader from the high tech high elementary school. For this project we formed a relationship with our "night light buddy" as well were able to use computer software called inkscape and tinker cad to construct a 3D night light design. My night light buddy is named Victoria and she is a joy to work with. Although she has a bold imagination when it comes to what she wants her personality definitely shines through. Later on we started learning about different types of circuits, because we will need to know how circuits work so we can effectively construct a solar powered night light. Night Light Buddy The first thing I did for this project was to go to the middle school and meet with my Buddy. My buddies name is Victoria and she is a very outgoing, bright minded, and a spunky little girl. Once I meet her we instantly connected and it seemed as if it was easy for her to talk to me. I started asking her questions about her self just so I could get to know her. Apparently she enjoys writing and reading, she even red a couple of books to me; she said that she wanted to be able to read big books and she said that her books were easy books. When she grows up she wants to be a spy, because she likes to investigate and figure out mysteries. I asked her if she was stranded on an island what three things would she bring. She quickly responds :" I would bring food,paper and a pencil, so that when I am bored I can draw. She loves hanging out with her friends and enjoys running. I didn't really ask too many questions, because I knew I would be asking more questions latter in the project. All I wanted to do was get to know her personality and Know what she was like without asking a hundred questions. She loves the color pink and I asked her why she liked the color pink and she responded,"because pink is a girl color". After telling her that some boys like pink too and asking her if pink was really a girl color she responded " I think it could be a boy and girl color". After reading through a few more books I started to read her more of the harder books. She and I seemed to have formed a good first bound and I am excited to meet with her again to talk about what her night like is going to look like. Later on I was asking her If she had heard about what the project was going to be about and she looked at me with a big smile said yes. She asked me questions about it and seemed very excited. Night Light Design Evidence of Construction
Series and Parallel Circuits Through the course of learning about how circuits worked (Illustration above) we learned how to solder wire together and learn about the electrical principles regarding how solar panels work. On the side of this box platform is a solar panel which enables the night light to run by itself. The battery inside stores all the energy during the day when its not being used.
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